Best Value Hardware erupted into flames late last night, and things aren’t looking great for the store this morning.
According to DNAinfo, the fire struck the first floor of 817 Manhattan Ave. (near Calyer) at 12:44 a.m., and it took 106 firefighters until 2:20 a.m. to get it under control.
Two firefighters sustained minor injuries and are being treated at Wyckoff Heights Medical Center.
Ok Greenpointers, we really need to step up our game. In the months since CitiStorage mysteriously went up in flames,we were warned that our promised 28 acre park was in jeopardy of getting turned into more luxury towers. Sadly, that day of reckoning is near.
According to a recent Crain’s article, CitiStorage owner Norman Brodsky , (the man seen twirling his pinky ring in the photo below) is optioning off his 11 acre land to not one but TWO developers so they can built more luxury apartments and a whole lot of equally pricey commercial space.
According to Mr. Brodsky, his phone has been ringing off the hook these days with offers as high as $250 million dollars despite the 11 acre property’s current zoning restrictions. If that number weren’t enough to make your eyes bleed, this $250 million dollar price tag is only half of it according to Brodsky, who just a few weeks ago touted the value of his land to be worth a mere half a BILLION dollars.
Well there she blows–not once, not twice, but thirteen times! Yes folks, feel free to keep your dirty little minds in the gutter because that is where the action was last night for the FDNY and NYPD.
Some of you might have woken up to quite the bang this morning when 13 manhole covers exploded into the sky along a stretch of Norman Avenue. The explosion happened at approximately 3 am after several residents complained of strong gas smells through out the early hours of the morning. Continue reading
A couple of weeks ago we reported a war was brewing at the former CitiStorage site, and while the flames have died down, the heat is on to reclaim our parkland. So Greenpointers got your skewers sharpened yet? If not, you better arm yourselves because it’s roasting time and you’re not going to want miss this.
Our good Friends of Bushwick Inlet Park have declared March 12th as the day we demand the city makes good on its promises to deliver our park according the 2005 Waterfront Rezoning. Some of you maybe thinking–why should we care if the City reneges? The answer doesn’t get more simple than this: If we don’t go to City Hall with our pitchforks and starting screaming like hell, we will be looking at another luxury tower in a only a few short years. Don’t want your promised park hijacked by another bloated developer with dollar signs in his eyes? Yeah, me either.
You see this battle isn’t just about a park or another tower, this is about a promise the City has NO intention of keeping. If there was ever a time to get really pissed, this is it. Continue reading
Well I hate to say I told you so, but even as CitiStorage still burns, the 11 acre lot could be sold to private developers–as soon as tomorrow, warns City Councilman Steve Levin. Many of you may recall from last week’s post, the future of the CitiStorage site was on shaky ground, but I doubt any of us would imagine losing our parkland so soon.
According to the FDNY, the site is still under investigation and investigators have yet to access the origin of the fire due to hazardous conditions. For the unforseeable future, we won’t know if there was foul play that sent CitiStorage up in smoke, but we do know the land is up for grabs, and perhaps to the highest bidder.
So while I don my silk turban and gaze once again into my crystal ball to predict what other crazy conspiracy theories might come true–like arson charges and measly insurance payouts–I am here to warn you: A war is afoot to reclaim CitiStorage as parkland and it’s time we start sharpening our skewers.
The South Williamsburg neighborhood group El Puente is hosting a CRITICAL CALL TO ACTION tonight and everyone from Williamsburg and Greenpoint should be there. Continue reading
Now with flames under control at CitiStorage, FDNY and local city agencies have started the arduous task of cleaning up and assessing what remains from the damage. Yet for those managing the wreckage, dealing with complaints of poor air quality and dodging the mounting conspiracy theories rippling in intensity across the neighborhood might prove more difficult to contain than the fire itself.
Update: The CitiStorage fire has reached 7 Alarms. Over 240 firefighters are at the scene battling the blaze. No injuries have been reported.
Due to hazardous conditions near the fire, the B32 has been rerouted to Berry Street starting at Metropolitan Avenue. The bus will resume its regular route at N.14th Street.
This just in: CitiStorage, the huge blue and white warehouse on the corner of Kent Avenue and North 11th Street, is engulfed in a massive fire!!!
The Fire Department responded to the 6:28 am call that the large record storage facility was on fire. It didn’t take long for the flames to take over and now the Fire Department is trying to contain the fire from spreading to CitiStorage’s next door neighbor–Bayside Oil. For those of you walking or biking along Kent Ave, surely you’ve seen Bayside’s massive oil tankers. If any flames hit there we’re looking at a MAJOR disaster. Make no mistake, this is a serious situation as pictures prove. Continue reading
…And that will be the title of my forthcoming memoir. Until then, let us remember that the smell was caused by a brush fire, not Chris Christie.
Just pretend that it’s summer and we’re all sitting by the campfire, inhaling that sweet smokey smell of nature. Try to forget that there is an actual fire in a forest somewhere 90 miles South of Manhattan. Close your eyes. Dream a little dream. And maybe stay inside so as to not activate that asthma. All cool?
P.S. The odor will be “observable” for the next 12 hours and as of this very moment, the fire is about 50% contained.
But, REAL TALK: we’re not happy that a nature preserve is burning. Save the osprey!
That is all.
What’s that smoky odor all over the city this morning? Blame this, from New Jersey: http://t.co/8qAT431T8h pic.twitter.com/y5wwJ3LjhI
— NBC New York (@NBCNewYork) April 7, 2014
I don’t care that miles of NJ state parks are on fire, waking up to the smell of burning forest made me want s’mores.
— Bread Foster (@BreadFoster) April 7, 2014
The sky over Greenpoint was lit up last night and the dark plume of smoke from the fire that burned over a 600 sq. foot industrial area could be seen as far as NJ. (And that’s far!) The fire is finally out and the photos we have collected are incredible. Continue reading
Firerighters are working right now to put out a HUGE fire at a Greenpoint recycling facility on Humboldt St. and Greenpoint Ave – right across from the Newtown Creek Sewage Treatment facility. If it’s the plant that many of us are familiar with, you can see huge cubed bails of recyclables inside when you turn up Humboldt St. from Greenpoint Ave.
PIX11.com is streaming the blaze as it happens from the sky.
We will keep you posted as more info comes in.
Update: According to NBC it is a 4 alarm fire, with plumes of back smoke seen from as far away of NJ. Thankfully there are no reported injuries. Firefighters were still on the scene as of 9:30pm putting out the fire which was reported at around 7pm.
According to News12 witnesses reported that the walls within the building collapsed.
